Pallet construction



0 L M W@ L m C. AX J Y B 3 m a ATTORNEY.

Patented May 31, 1949 PALLET CONSTRUCTION Jacob Lilienfeld, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Lit Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 10, 1947, Serial No. 773,139

2 Claims. (Cl. 248120) This invention relates generally to pallets of the type adapted for use in warehouses, and more particularly to certain improvements therein for rendering the same especially applicable for the storage of large and heavy articles, such as, mattresses, bed-springs and the like, stacked on edge 5 flush with the upper surface of the pallet to render upon the pallet so as to facilitate individual selecthe same capable for use as a conventional pallet. tion of any one of such articles from a group Other objects of this invention will appear more thereof. fully hereinafter.

It has long been a problem in the warehouse The invention consists substantially in the constorage of mattresses and the like, particularly struction, combination, location and relative arby dealers engaged in the sale thereof, to conrangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereveniently select as desired any particular one of inafter set forth, as shown in the accompanying such articles, this for the reason that it has been drawings, and finally pointed out in the appended customary to store the same fiat-wise one upon claims. the other on pallets without seriously attempting In the accompanying drawings: in any way to sort the same according to color, Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a quality, style, etc. This objectionable condition pallet of the present invention with the collapsiarises primarily because of the fact that each ble supporting arms projecting upwardly theredealer maintains on hand a relatively small quanfrom; tity of such articles which are identical in respect Figure 2 is a similar perspective view of the to color or quality or style, thus necessitating pallet with the collapsible supporting arms disresort to piling all such articles one upon the posed in the plane of the upper surface thereof; other indiscriminately in order to conserve val- Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of the uabie floor space. pallet showing one of said collapsible arms in Obviously, it would be desirable to stack idenlowered position; tical articles of the character aforesaid in indi- Figure '4 is an enlarged view of a portion 01' vidual piles on pallets so that as any one of a Figure 3 with the collapsible arm in raised posigiven color, quality or style is desired for delivery tion; and to a customer, it could readily be removed from Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the hinge the top of the pile without difficulty. However, employed to support and to connect the collapsithis would entail the use of so many different ble arm to the pallet. piles, certain of which might include but only a Referring now to the drawings, it will be obfew of a given article, that the floor space required served that the pallet of the present invention would be prohibitive. 5 generally comprises a plurality of longitudinally I have found that the problem is quite adeextending laterally spaced parallel cleats l0 quately solved by stacking the articles of th (preferaby three in number) across the top and character aforesaid upon edge upon readily shiftbottom edges of which extend a plurality of flat able pallets which differ from those conventionboards ll. Each set of these cross boards H lie ally employed in that said pallets are provided in a mm n h r on pl n an are sec red with collapsible side extension members adapted to the cleats, as by the securing elements It to be raised, as desired, into vertically disposed in sp c d parallel relation as shown. position to maintain upon each such pallet a plu- The cleats d cross boards re p efer ly ut rality of mattresses, box springs or the hir not necessarily made of wood and the particular ranged on edge. Thus, any given pallet of the number d s of each p ed in th pallet present invention is adapted to support a plumay y pe d pon th overall size of the rality of such articles without discriminating pallet to be employed- The general a therebetween as to any differences in color, qualment of these elements, however, Should P ity or style thereof, any one of said articles being ably be such as to provide a p r of n i dinally readily removed from the stack thereof on the extending Spaces betwen the 0p nd bottom pallet th a i i of efi'ort and it t surfaces of the pallet for accommodation therein quiring any disturbance of the remaining articles of the Vertically Shiftable lifting fi ge s of constored on the pallet. veying trucks of the type well known for ware- Accordingly, it is among the principal objects house use, the pallet with its load being thereby of the present invention to provide a pallet for shifted to any desired storage position.

2 the purposes aforesaid which is characterized by the provision of side extension arms which are readily disposable in vertical position to support large articles stacked on edge upon the pallet and as readily disposable in horizontal position In accordance with the present invention, the pallet is provided with one or more pivoted arms 14 upon each side thereof, the pallet illustrated being shown as provided with two such arms upon either side. Each of said arms I4 is pivotally mounted upon a side cleat ID with its pivoted end disposed between a pair of adjacent cross boards II by means of a suitable hinge [5, such as is shown in Figure 5. Each of these hinges I5 is provided with a pair of angularly related arms lB-ll hingedly secured together by a pin l8, the longer arm l6 being bent, as at l9, so that the outer portion 20 thereof may be swung into a position parallel to but ofi'set from the arm H or into a position extending at right angles thereto. The arm "of each hinge is adapted for securement to the inner face of each sidemost cleat III, while the outer portion 20 of the hinge arm i8 is adapted for securement to one of the side arms I4, all as shown most clearly in Figures 3 and 4.

Each of the sidemost cleats ill, in the regions of securement of the hinges I5 thereto, is notched, as at 2|, to provide an inclined surface 22 against which the inner portion 23 of the hinge arm l6 may rest when the hinge is swung into the position shown in Figure 4, it being noted that when the hinge is swung into this position the side arm extension I4 extends vertically and is restrained from outward movement beyond the longitudinal side edge of the pallet by the fact that the inclined surface 22 of the hingereceiving notch 2| serves as a limiting stop for the hinge arm IS.

The side arms ii are each of a thickness equal to that of the cross boards H so that when the former are swung into their lowered positions (as shown in Figure 2 and at the left of Figure 3) they lie substantially flush with the upper surface of the pallet. The length of each side extension arm I4 is preferably such that when in its lowered position its free end rests upon the central longitudinally extending cleat III.

The side extension arms I4 are preferably made of wood, but they may be formed of any other suitable material, such as metal, in which event they may be of a thickness and width substantially less than those of the cross boards ll. While in the construction illustrated, the side extension arms are arranged in opposed pairs so that the free ends of each pair commonly rest upon the central cleat l0, it will be understood that these arms may be arranged in staggered relation so as to provide for greater length of each arm and so increase their vertical extent for higher side support of articles stacked on the pallet.

It will be understood, of course, that the present invention is susceptible of various changes and modifications which may be made from time to time without departing from the real spirit or general principles thereof, and it is accordingly intended to claim the same broadly as well as specifically as indicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and useful is:

'1. A pallet comprising spaced parallel cleats, spaced parallel cross boards connecting said cleats and collapsible supporting members hingedly mounted on opposite sides of the pallet upon the end cleats thereof in the space between cross boards and adapted alternatively to lie in the horizontal plane of said cross boards in the spaces therebetween or to extend upwardly therefrom.

2. A pallet comprising spaced parallel cleats, spaced parallel cross boards connecting said cleats and collapsible supporting members hingedly mounted on opposite sides of the pallet upon the end cleats thereof in the space between the same adjacent cross boards and adapted alternatively to lie in the horizontal plane of said cross boards in the spaces therebetween with the ends of said members resting" upon the upper face of the center cleat in said space or to extend upwardly from said plane.

JACOB LILENFELD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number' I 

